1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to information systems. In particular, the present invention relates to systems and methods to facilitate a distribution of information via one or more dynamically loadable components.
2. Description of the Related Art
People, such as business people, increasingly need to aware of important information (e.g., time-sensitive information). For example, a business person may need to be aware of financial information or product information as it becomes available via a communication network. Traditionally, a person would become aware of such information by asking for the information (e.g., by performing a search via an Internet portal). This approach, however, has several disadvantages. For example, it may be time-consuming to perform a search—especially if the person needs the information on a regular basis. Moreover, the person will only receive information after he or she initiates a search. As a result, the person may not receive important information in a timely fashion (e.g., when he or she does not perform a search for an extended period of time).
It is known that a person can have an information service monitor a particular item of information. The information service will then automatically notify the person when the item of information satisfies a pre-determined condition. For example, the YAHOO!® Finance stock alert service lets a person define (i) a particular stock symbol, (ii) a pre-determined threshold value associated with the stock, and (iii) an electronic mail address. The stock alert service will then monitor the stock's current value and automatically transmits an electronic mail message when the value falls below (or rises above) the pre-determine threshold value.
Even this approach, however, has a number of disadvantages. For example, existing services are inflexible because they use a hard-coded rule to monitor a single, discrete item of information (e.g., a stock's current value) in a pre-defined way to determine when a message will be transmitted (although a person may separately and independently arrange to have a number of different stock values monitored). This limitation significantly restricts the usefulness of these services for many people. For example, one person may only want to know when both of the following conditions are satisfied: (i) the stock's current value falls below a particular price and (ii) the trading volume of the stock rises above a particular amount. Another person may instead need to known when a first stock's current value rises above a second stock's current value. Existing services cannot efficiently interpret multiple items of information in the various ways that may be needed different people.
Another disadvantage is that known services use hard-coded rules to monitor information from a single information source (e.g., a stock quote service). Some people, however, may be interested in knowing when information from a number of different information sources meets certain conditions. Consider, for example, a business person who is responsible for maintaining sufficient syrup levels in a large number of carbonated beverage machines. This person will, of course, be interested in knowing the current syrup levels in those machines. The person may also be interested in the likely rate at which syrup will be consumed as indicated by the current (or predicted) temperature (e.g., a ten percent level of syrup may be sufficient when the temperature is fifty degrees but not when the temperature is ninety degrees). Note that some information of interest to a person may reside within an enterprise boundary (e.g., current syrup levels) while some resides outside the enterprise boundary (e.g., a weather forecast source). Existing services cannot efficiently interpret information from multiple information sources.
Another disadvantage is that existing services use hard-coded rules to transmit information via a single device of delivery method (e.g., to a person's electronic mail account). Many people, however, cannot receive all information of interest via a single device. For example, a salesperson may need to receive information about less important customers via a desktop Personal Computer (PC) and information about more important customers via a wireless Personal Digital Assistant (PDA). Because known services do not have this ability, a person may receive an overwhelming amount of information via a single device (e.g., information about all customers may be received via his or her PDA).